I recently bought The Darkness for PS3.  When I originally played the demo years ago, I was blown away, so I decided to buy it a few days ago since it was very very cheap and I had always been curious about what the rest of the game would be like.  At first I was thinking "this isn't exactly as mind-blowing as I remember it," but I still got a strange sense of satisfaction from it.
 
The Darkness is certainly plagued with many problems.  Sometimes the characters' mouths barely movie at all when speaking, the controls can be confusing, sometimes making it difficult to use certain darkness powers and shoot guns every once in a while.  It froze up on me once, the physics aren't that great, it's often laughable when you kill someone because their body just flops around like a ragdoll filled with helium.   Also, a sprint button would have been nice, because Jackie certainly does take his sweet time trying to escape from a helicopter.
 
This game would be nearly unbearable if it weren't for its strong, inventive story, its striking art style, amazing voice-over work, and many other things that usually aren't necessary for me to enjoy a game.  The character of Jackie Estacado may seem too one-dimensional to many people.  I got that vibe at first, but hearing the way he talks, and witnessing how stoic he is in the face of tragedy makes him a very strong character.  He may seem shallow at first, but with every twist of the story, a new layer of depth to his persona is revealed.  I've always wanted a character who was a badass but wasn't constantly trying to prove it with lame one-liners.
 
You do get to talk to random people along the way, and choose what you say to them, which took me back to playing the original Deus Ex.  And most of the locations, and the mood of the settings remind me a lot of Max Payne.
 
I haven't beaten the game yet, but I've been really enjoying its neo-noir/supernatural horror feel.  What really gives this game personality is that it has some of the best dialogue I've heard in a game, and it's all expertly delivered.   Dialogue in games is just lame and ridiculous 95% of the time.
 
Like I said, I haven't finished the game, and story is the dominant element in The Darkness, so there may be something that happens at the end that would make a sequel impossible, pointless, or stupid.  But I do sorta wish it will get a sequel so they can have a chance to improve all the shortcomings of the original game, then you'd have a truly amazing gaming experience.

It's in the works, as far as I can tell. There's even a page for it here on GB, although there isn't much info as of yet.

Yup, they announced it just this month. 
 
http://www.giantbomb.com/the-darkness-ii/61-22425/ 
 
EDIT: I'm also excited. Loved the first one. If you like the characters and the story, try reading the comics.

  insert obligatory 

The darkness was amazing but they're apparently taking out the open world type of aspect for this one. I'm kind of bummed but I still think they can deliver a great game - it's not like there was much to do in the open world of The Darkness anyway. The characters and story were what drove me.

i loved the Darkness, but it bummed me out you never actually use/get the suit, just the imps and tentacles and shit. I guess since its first person you wouldnt really see it (well you'd see the hands) but it still bummed me out

Yeah, there's supposed to be a sequel to it.
 
The Darkness is one of my favorite games from this generation, really hope they don't fuck it up.

Yep, there's some official stuff floating around on the net.

" The darkness was amazing but they're apparently taking out the open world type of aspect for this one. I'm kind of bummed but I still think they can deliver a great game - it's not like there was much to do in the open world of The Darkness anyway. The characters and story were what drove me. "

" @xyzygy said:

" The darkness was amazing but they're apparently taking out the open world type of aspect for this one. I'm kind of bummed but I still think they can deliver a great game - it's not like there was much to do in the open world of The Darkness anyway. The characters and story were what drove me. "

Open world? I don't remember The Darkness being anything but totally linear (awesome, but totally linear). "

Yeah, I've been playing it for about an hour each night, it just keeps getting more and more interesting.  It's now at that point where I've started thinking "alright, this has GOT to be the last lev...oh."
 
And I just looked up some stuff on here and other sites about it.  I've seen one screenshot that didn't really reveal anything except a slightly different art style and slightly cleaner graphics.  And I heard the first game's developer Starbreeze isn't developing the second, but it's going be Digital Extremes instead, who I think did Dark Sector.  This may sound a little strange but I kinda think the Darkness and Dark Sector are similar in some ways.  I was one of the few people who thought Dark Sector was underrated, but I didn't consider it amazing by any means, and my opinion might have been affected by the fact that I got it for free.  The Darkness is a much better game though, clearly.
 
I still haven't finished it but am getting close.  This has been one of the few games where the story has carried me through more than anything else.  It's my opinion that videogames usually have really lame stories, but that it doesn't matter in the long run because gameplay is what matters.  So I usually kinda push story to the side. 
 
And like I said earlier, the voice acting from EVERYONE in the game (not just Mike Patton) is phenomenal, which strengthens an already great story.  One bad voiceover job can really take you out of a game's world, if it's just one cheesy line, or if the character's appearance doesn't fit the voice, or whatever.  It's so rare for a studio to get their hands on such talented voice-over artists, who all seem to know exactly what they're doing.  I guess they're encouraged by the fact that the dialogue is so well written, not typical cheesy videogame dialogue.
 
I haven't heard anyone on GiantBomb say anything negative about The Darkness, so I wonder why it didn't get the praise/attention it deserved from the general public.  There are always gonna be games like that though, ones that are sort of like oddities to the gaming world, which ultimately become "cult hits."
 
Ah well, I'll have the game finished very soon...then I'll just wait to hear more about the sequel in the meantime.  Supposedly it's coming out in the Fall of this year.

The Darkness is actually one of the games that drove me to buying a this-generation system.  It was literally the third X360 game I bought (after Gears and Oblivion, though I finished The Darkness first).  I went into the Circuit City next to where I worked at the time EVERY DAY until they finally got their shipment in.